Health is a constant concern for the human population. Even outside of specific diseases, healthy living can promote well being, energy, and a long life. Many people worry daily about weight management, proper exercise, proper diet, and other health related issues. Numerous government organizations (e.g., the World Health Organization and Center for Disease Control) and publications are dedicated to informing people about the role of their activities in increasing health and wellness. Many corporations have developed wellness programs to encourage workers to maintain or improve their health. Health encompasses physical, mental, and emotional factors and affects many areas of a person's life.
There are many existing methods for monitoring and improving health. Individual devices exist for measuring various indicators of health, such as heart rate monitors, blood pressure monitors, glucose tests, and so forth. Many devices exist that are related to fitness, such as exercise bicycles, treadmills, weights, and so forth. In addition, many systems exist for managing a person's diet, such as counting calories, the Atkins diet, and so forth. Some programs will send a person meals that are designed to deliver a specific amount of calories per day.
Unfortunately, overall health is difficult to track, and many existing systems integrate poorly with a person's lifestyle. For example, monitoring devices are only helpful if the person remembers to use them and record their results, diets are only as good as the person's discipline to follow the diet's rules, and other elements in a person's life may add to or detract from health that current systems do not track or consider at all. For example, the number of hours a day that a person watches television, whether the person drives or bicycles to work, and even the speed at which a person eats can all impact the person's health. In addition, even when useful health data is collected about a person, it is difficult for the person to act on that data. The person may invest significant hours learning about the number of calories best suited to that person's lifestyle, the amount of exercise that person needs, or the types of food he or she should eat.